Psychologist Dr. Robert Rich speaks about Alfredo Zotti’s book: ‘An Artist’s Creative Life With Bipolar Disorder’ which was published by Modern History Press early in 2014, and edited by Bob Rich. Many thanks to Matt Cairns for filming Dr Bob Rich and for editing the greatest part of of this short film.

I am very pleased to say that my book titled ‘An artist’s Creative Life with Bipolar Disorder” is finally out. Here is the link to order one or more copies: I would like to thank Victor Volkman, of Loving Healing Press , for publishing such book and I would also like to thank all of the people that have been part of this journey, a journey that has lasted ten years while I was struggling to help many people with mental ill health on the net. Here I mention a few: my wife Cheryl Zotti; Psychologist Bob Rich who has written wonderful self help books ; Victor Volkman of Loving Healing Press http://www.lhpress.com/ ; Dr Dean Cavanagh (GP); Psychologist Paul Corcoran; Psychiatrist Dr David Butler; Judy Wright; Earnest Dempsey; Rosemary Martin; Lewis Weir; Professor Geoffrey Samuel of Cardiff University ; Professor Trevor Waring of the University of Newcastle ; Professor Pat McGorry ; Psychologist Dr Anthony Kidman who has written a wonderful book for those with a mental disorder who would like to feel better by helping themselves and putting a little effort: ; and many others, too many to mention here. These mental health professionals are different in that they are aware that people with mental disorders can help themselves.

I would also like to thank the staff of Gosford Hospital (NSW Australia) for being so supportive and understanding and for helping my wife.

The only way I could understand mental disorders was to communicate with those who suffer, their care givers and sometimes their mental health professionals, trying to make sense of it all. It was also helpful that I suffer with Bipolar II disorder and that my wife suffers with Bipolar I disorder. I guess that this book that I have written has many messages that are not just mine but a summary of what many intelligent and creative people with mental disorders are saying. Here is what Judy wrote, to give an example:

“Alfredo, to answer your question, I’d say the most valuable thing I’ve learned is that mental illness doesn’t matter much in terms of who you are or your value as a person. It can certainly affect a relationship if left unaddressed but I admire anyone who tries to function in spite of it and recognizes when they need help. Accepting help is a sign of strength because in reality, all of us are interdependent on each other. You tell your story and it helps someone else…and so it goes. Acceptance comes with understanding.”

…and this is what I think of the book, what I feel that the main message is:

For the past 10 years I have been trying to understand and study mental disorders like Depression and Bipolar. How we treat people with mental disorders, and by “we” I mean the society, mental health professionals and sufferers alike, is something that interests me because I suffer with Bipolar II and because my wife also suffers with Bipolar I. I have been studying mental disorders for a very long time indeed and from this effort my book has emerged.

The book points to some disturbing truths about what is going on. And what is going on is that our society is basically telling people with mental disorders that they are damaged, that only anti-psychotics or anti-depressants can work to alleviate their problems. The great bulk of the mental health professionals (though there are a number of very caring and aware mental health professionals) look down on sufferers. They often believe that it is the experts who have all of the answers and sufferers are merely people who lack knowledge and who are often too handicapped by their mental disability to be able to help themselves. What is more alarming is that many people with mental disorders have bought into these ideas and now truly believe that they are damaged and that only medication can help.

For as long as pharmaceutical companies, many mental health professionals, and sufferers alike keep seeing mental disorders in this way, that there is no hope except to take medication, nothing much will change in our society. Medication has its values but it needs to be used responsibly and sensibly in the contest of a bio-psycho-social model of health. That is to ensure that sufferers have a stress free life, appropriate housing, a job whether part time or full time that suits their condition, a support group, an understanding government, and people around us who can provide support and care. Many of these things are missing in our world today. No amount of medication available will help a woman who takes anti psychotics or anti depressants drugs but who then goes back to a home of domestic violence and abuse. It is clear that the environment and the psychological well being of the sufferer are also as important, if not more so than medication alone.

For as long as the majority of mental health professionals fail to give proper importance to childhood traumatic experiences, to the sensitivities of the person and neglect to look into child abuse or mistreatment, nothing will change.

Our world is full of stressors and it is a world that is far from an ideal one. Money seems to rule over everything else and our real treasure, our planet, is in danger; indeed we are in danger of extinction unless we change our ways and stop sabotaging our life on Earth. This is a mad world we live in and I believe that there is no such thing as sane individuals, or mentally ill ones. We all have problems and all struggle each day. We also have the potential to help ourselves, no matter what our problems or afflictions are.

We can help those with mental disorders, but unless we stop telling them that only medication works and that they are permanently damaged and unable to live a fulfilling and reasonably happy life, nothing will change. Mental illness will go on and continue to get worse as numbers of people with mentally ill health increase. There is no doubt in my mind, after writing this book and communicating with thousands of sufferers from all over the world, that we are contributing to mental illness and even creating it each day. The moment that we realize that many people with mental disorders are special people who need support, help and encouragement to believe in themselves and their future, things will change for the better as people will begin to finally believe in themselves and help themselves towards a better life. We will be able to do the best we can with what we have. Our perspective on mental illness is all wrong and it certainly rarely leads to improvements, something that statistics have been telling us for a long time.

The only improvement is that people are becoming less and less prejudiced and this is something good. But the overall situation is worsening. We need to empower and support those with mental disorders and the government needs to do a lot more to truly support sufferers. Expecting them to work in a stigma loaded and prejudiced world is not the answer. We need jobs that are friendly to those with mental disorders and it is a fact that many may not be able to work. The welfare system needs to support those who are unable to hold full time jobs. Government need to do a lot more and it is a disgrace to see such neglect of our most vulnerable people.

To fix the problems we need to spend money in such a way that improvements are noted. Many mental health professionals know what to do and they’ve been screaming out for changes for a long while; there is a price to pay for solving the problems but the returns are worth it in the long run for to spend money today, in the right way, is to save billions in the future. And this is where governments fail because they are only interested in Band-Aid solutions and the next oncoming elections; alternatively, they fail to listen to those who have the right knowledge for appropriate change.

Most important interventions are: a) to create appropriate accommodation for homeless people with mental ill health; b) to create appropriate employment opportunities that consider the sufferers’ condition. In this sense we have a long way to go, but we haven’t really started to truly help people. Our focus is on money and material possessions not on the quality of life of the people and the planet and the importance of preserving nature. The world has truly gone mad 

This below is an article from the Sydney Morning Herald. Unfortunately, while the article is two years old, the situation today has not improved but worsened. Who is looking after the mentally ill in Australia?

Modern prescription for mental illness: go directly to jail

“Most are ill people locked in a system that can’t provide proper treatment.”

A comfortably-off, middle-class woman from a nice suburb suddenly finds herself at the Silverwater metropolitan remand and reception centre. She’s been charged with a serious driving offence and is awaiting trial.

The reception centre is a madhouse. It’s so crowded people are swinging off the rafters. There are three or four people to a small cell. Our middle-class inmate shares with two others.

There’s an Aboriginal woman clearly suffering a dreadful mental trauma, who spends the entire night screaming and bashing her head against the wall. There is blood everywhere.

The lady on the driving charge repeatedly calls the guard for something to be done, only to be told when someone in authority finally gets around to sticking their head in (twice in 12 hours), ”don’t worry about it”.

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The guards would have seen this sort of scene innumerable times. Someone might die, but the resources can’t cope and the system is choked with mentally ill prisoners.

A group of us who attended the most recent forum of the Crime and Justice Reform Committee heard this story from Kat Armstrong, an articulate former prisoner who nowadays works for the Women in Prison Advocacy Network.

Former District Court judge Chris Geraghty, who chaired the lunchtime session of the CJRC, said he quite frequently had to sentence mentally damaged people to jail who said their heads were filled with voices. Sending these people to prison is unlikely to improve their capacity to function. It also compounds the difficulties of daily life for other prisoners and prison officers.

Prison is a concentrate of mental disorder. These illnesses run at three to four times the rate in the prison population that they do in the unimprisoned community. About 54 per cent of women and 47 per cent of men in prison are reported as having been assessed or treated for a mental health problem. This includes anxiety, depression, psychosis and bipolar disorders. The really deeply disturbed inmates have to find room at the limited facilities of prison forensic hospitals. Ninety per cent of women in the reception centres have experienced a mental disorder within 12 months of imprisonment.

In one sense, this is not surprising because the prison population is largely drawn from people with a profile of chronic unemployment, low level of skills and education and drug and alcohol dependence. What has been quietly happening under our noses is that the prisons have become the largest psychiatric institutions in the country, but without the therapeutic resources to deal with the problem.

Prisons are not entirely full of bad people. Most of them are just ill people locked in a system that can’t provide proper treatment.

Eighty per cent of women in jail have been subjected to domestic violence, sexual abuse and drug addiction, or all three. Prisoners are released back into the community often in a more damaged condition than when they went in.

Twenty per cent of the prison population is on methadone. Prisoners who are really troublesome are given antidepressants and they wander about like zombies struggling to stay awake. From the prison officers’ point of view, they are easier to control in that condition.

It’s also pretty horrendous for most prisoners when they are released. They have no job, no skills and no money. Very soon they’re back inside. In fact, some released prisoners plan to commit a crime fairly promptly after release so they can get back to prison – the only place where there are daily certainties.

Yet what are the alternatives? There’s the MERIT scheme (Magistrates Early Referral Into Treatment), which allows the Local Court to divert people with drug and alcohol abuse away from the prison system and into treatment. It applies at the less serious end of the criminal spectrum.

There’s also section 32 of the Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Act 1990, which also allows defendants to be diverted out of the criminal justice system. But these arrangements struggle to replace recidivism with treatment. In 2007, the latest figures available, just 1.6 per cent of defendants appearing before local courts were diverted under section 32. This does not reflect the numbers of accused, who most certainly would qualify for a section 32 order.

What is really needed is a massive injection of funds into addressing human dysfunctionality somewhere other than in the prison system. Judicial reinvestment is the buzz term.

Of course, the money is not there although there are some encouraging first steps, including a 300-bed drug treatment prison going in at the John Moroney Correctional Centre in Windsor.

At the moment conditions in the system are so dreadful that, as Kat Armstrong put it, ”You do your jail easier if you’re off your face.”

I find it strange that we have mental health organisations, such as the Black Dog Institute, Beyondblue, Headspace, SANE Australia, and many others, that have not mentioned the impact that the current bed tax, introduced in New South Wales recently, will have on people with disabilities and people with mental illness. Here is some information about it http://alfredo123.wordpress.com/2013/12/20/why-the-bedroom-tax-is-a-very-bad-idea/

I was truly surprised to learn that these organisation do not know anything about it. I am also concerned at the kind of mental health reforms that are going to be introduced in New South Wales, where people with severe mental illness who currently live in government houses with extra bedrooms, may be about to be relocated next to unreformed criminals and in unhealthy, disruptive environments. People with mental illness, and other serious disabilities, do need to be helped and protected.

We all need to save resources and use less energy and less goods. But this change needs to happen gradually, as technology improves, to help the capitalist system adjust to gradual and well thought changes. We need vision, innovations and new political and ideological approaches. Reducing welfare expenditure , and attacking the consumer society, by taking money away from less fortunate people, is not the answer. It never was the answer, and it does not work.

The situation in Europe can show us why Economic Austerity does not work. Please look at European economics to find that cutting welfare and services has the opposite result: that is to create a recession and make a country much worse off in economic terms. Why is this? This is the question that we need to answer

Austerity, in economic terms, refers to policies used by governments to reduce budget deficits during adverse economic conditions. These policies may include spending cuts, tax increases, or a mixture of the two. Austerity policies may be attempts to demonstrate governments’ to their creditors and credit rating agencies by bringing fiscal incomes closer to expenditures.

The current Liberal government, In Australia, is choosing the Economic Austerity approach saying that the economy is in deficit (though Australia is rated 10th country in the world with a triple AAA credit rating).

I have studied economics for quite sometimes, enough to know that Austerity does not work and we have proof of this by looking at Europe. Italy, Spain, Ireland, Belgium and many other European countries have deteriorated in all senses of the word, especially economics. Other countries like Germany and France are beginning to find themselves under economic pressures. This is because Austerity leads first to recession and secondly to depression. This is simple mathematics; poor people are not good to the capitalist system which needs the consumer to prosper. Yet, under the Austerity ideology, many governments are taking money away from the poor causing recession.

To put it simply, in the current economic environment, where Capitalism is struggling, we still need Keynesian economics and policies. This is because the poor and lower classes contribute to a different side of the economy (but nevertheless important economic sector) namely second hand goods and other goods or services which the middle upper classes or the rich either do not access or access in a very limited way. And this sector of the economy is huge in terms of billions of dollars. When we take money away from the poor we undermine this sector, which is vital for a good and strong economy. Second hand dealers and small retail shops suffer having a negative impact on the economy.

Ask any good economist, with good sense, and the majority they will agree with me.. So where is this economic austerity going to take us here in Australia? First a deep recession and secondly a depression and this will happen quickly within a couple of years. The economies of today are very complex and very difficult to manage and require gifted governments with vision that stays well away from austerity.

Will services reforms, especially health and housing, help people with mental illness?

SOMETIMES THINGS LOOK GOOD ON PAPER BUT THEY SOON LOOSE THEIR LUSTER WHEN ONE SEES HOW THEY AFFECT PEOPLE.

It is important for people with serious mental illness, including those who rely on the public mental health system for services, to know how health care reforms proposals could affect them. After health reforms, will they have better access to the services and support that they need to manage their condition or to recover? Or will the reforms have a negative impact on their health?

With the introduction, in New South Wales, of the bedroom tax, which originated in the UK and which is now receiving a lot of negative criticism in the UK, it is important to look closely at how this tax may impact on people with mental illness who are most vulnerable. For a deeper consideration of the bedroom tax please visit this webpage http://alfredo123.wordpress.com/2013/12/20/why-the-bedroom-tax-is-a-very-bad-idea/

Other important reforms being proposed are changes to the disability pension. While the argument to cut down welfare expenditure may have some validity and appeal, to the more conservative members of society, the fact remains that governments have a responsibility to ensure that people with mental illness are not negatively affected by the reforms. It is already difficult enough to cope with a mental illness. Statistics show that our jails are the current accommodation for many people with mental illness since the closure of institutions such as Rozelle hospital, and similar facilities, in Sydney a few years back.

I have created this page so that doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists and various mental health professionals can voice their concerns.

For example, Doctor Dean Cavanagh, of Narara Valley Drive Medical Centre in Narara, Central Coast of New South Wales, argues that lately, whenever he has to ring up to ask for permission to prescribe certain potent medication, especially for mental illness (some medication need the approval of the government), he has to wait a much longer time than he used to on the phone. We are speculating that this may be due to the fact that the New South Wales government has cut down on the staff that usually answers the phone and deals with doctors.

This is a huge waste of time and resources because we can imagine a doctor waiting up to half hour at the phone as the person over the other end of the line struggles with the many incoming calls. In this time the Doctor could possibly see three extra patients.

Another problem, noticed by Doctor Cavanagh, is that younger people with mental illness, and who may happen to be on drugs and/or alcohol, cannot be helped, at present, by the system. There are not enough beds in mental health hospitals and facilities and people who need to be taken away for a while, and helped for a few days towards some recovery, are not helped at all but turned away so that they may end up in jail or, worse, something bad may happen to them such as a young woman with mental illness being raped or young people getting into serious fights.

Statistics show that currently we are not helping as we should and that many people with mental illness end up in jail. I call on all mental health organization such as the Black Dog Institute, Beyond Blue, The University of Technology in Sydney, SANE Australia, and many other institutions, to try to do more than simply offer support and information on website. This is not adequate help and does very little to protect those vulnerable people who are in danger.

While your resources may be limited you are the only organizations that get financial supports and collect charity money. Why not try to help more directly? Single cases need help and they are not receiving it.

I work as a volunteer and help. with the support of two psychologists and one psychiatrist, hundreds of people with mental illness per year. I know the huge problems and the fact that Australia seems to have forgotten people with mental illness with the exception of a bit of effort that is not at all enough to even begin to scratch the surface of the problems.

Currently, these organisations will tell you that they don’t have enough resources and that they cannot help single cases. However, they could try to expose the problem more, by writing and speaking up, rather than fear for their position or jobs and keep quiet. This is not time to keep quiet when people with mental illness are affected in this way.

We want to know how the bedroom tax and the reforms to disability pensions and welfare are going to affect people with mental illness. So I call on all mental health professionals to please speak up and start representing vulnerable people with mental illness. If you are a mental health professional this is what I am saying to you: “It is the least that you can do, to speak of the problems and help vulnerable people, to justify your position as a mental health expert.”

Paul Corcoran, a practicing psychologist, writes:

“…The best that can be done is to apply whatever political pressure we can and to hope that good sense prevails.”

I am pretty certain that people do not have any idea about the problems that people with mental illness face. Governments should be ashamed about the state of affairs in Australia. It is an inhuman state of affairs. At one meeting, a police officer broke out in tears and said: “please do help people with mental illness, they need help and they are not getting it. We put them in jail and they don’t belong there.” For me it is absolutely depressing to receive emails of desperation and not being able to do anything about it. What is going on?

People who may read my journal may wonder: who is this fellow trying to tell mental health professionals what to do, what is right and what is wrong? What qualifications does he have and what does he know about mental illness?

The answer is simple. I am someone who suffers with mental illness, especially depression. In addition I have been trying to help many people, online, as a volunteer helper. I have been doing this for 10 long years now, and have collected material for longitudinal research on mental illness.

Because I value what sufferers tell me, more than I value research and what mental health professionals who do not suffer directly have to say, I have been able to access special knowledge, which is not always available to the community or to academics. In this journal, I share this special knowledge.

The Black Dog institute is a well known and respected Australian organization which provides information, carries out research and attempts to help sufferers, mostly online. A good effort indeed. It is well established, affiliated with the University of New South Wales and based on the Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick, a suburb of Sydney.

If we look closely at some of the research and ideologies of this institution, however, we find substantial problems. For example Professor Gordon Parker, who is the founder of the Black Dog Institute, proposes that Depression is not “it” but a complex cluster of different subtypes of the disorder. For example, Melancholia is one subtype.

According to psychologist Dr Bob Rich, who also suffered once with severe depression, and therefore has some inside knowledge of depression:

This is the old myth about endogenous and reactive depression. The first is supposed to be chemical. I think all depression is reactive to something triggering childhood belief systems.

From personal experience, having suffered with depression since childhood, I agree with Dr Bob Rich, but I also know that the way in which I experience Depression varies from what is happening both in the environment and in my mind, my perception of situations. I have experienced many different kinds of depression: Anhedonia, which had me confined to an armchair and bed for two years; and less severe forms of depression and anxiety. My depression is “it,” but its intensity can vary greatly, something that is common to many sufferers with whom I am in constant communication.

When in doubt ask the experts? Maybe not! What about: “when in doubt ask experts who suffer with a mental illness?” This second proposition is more interesting. Indeed those mental health professionals who suffer directly may be able to assist Professor Parker to take a better look at his theory, which is misguided according to the evidence that I have gathered.

Mental health professional Lewis Weir writes:

I agree with your assessment, that depression depends on the environment (all forces outside and effecting the individual) and how that affects and individual internally. It seems what is going on with a person, their life has a lot to do with how depression presents itself. It can have a range of severity and I believe that depends both on neuro-chemistry and environment.

Remember, there is depression that occurs for no apparent environmental influence but environment still has an effect. There is also depression which is triggered by an event, like you described in the death of a parent. This latter cause, a parent, family member or someone close is experienced in a degree by everyone and is termed grieving, where a normal process is gone through, lasting up to 6 months.

Here is another sufferer who is also an expert. Judy writes:

Hi, Alfredo. I think I’d have to agree with you on this. Depression is too complicated to try to divide it into subtypes because, as you say, any one person can experience varying degrees of it. I think people have various triggers that get it going and I believe some of those triggers have to do with subconscious memories so that we don’t always understand why certain things can trigger it. I think it’s a waste of time to try and figure out subtypes.

Waste of time? If it is a waste of time than it is really sad to think that a professional person like Professor Gordon Parker is so misguided in his ideas. Think of all the research money dedicated to establish various subtypes of depression that may not exist. What a waste of dollars and time that could be directed to more fruitful research.

This is a problem that many Australian universities face today, that they are engaging in research on mental illness based on their effort to apply purely scientific research, forgetting that humans cannot be studied purely through science for a variety of good philosophical reasons. To put it simply, science cannot explain complex and constant change. Can science explain how the human mind is shaped by environmental and psychological forces? Can we measure these? The answer is an emphatic “NO”.

I fear that Australia is not only following a road that will take us to increased mental illness, because we are creating mental illness with our research, our problematic world views and our stupidity, but that it will also be left behind in terms of credible research. Already Europe is looking at Australia with unbelieving eyes as to say: what are you doing down-under? True to say that evidence points to the fact that big pharmaceutical companies may have taken control of universities and are influencing the way in which we research mental illness and what we study.

I don’t want Australia, that was once a clever country, to become the laughing stock of the world. Clearly we are currently making many people laugh with our stupid ideas on mental illness. It is time to change. And as far as Professor Parker goes, I feel that he should start to do research with psychologists and psychiatrists who suffer from depression. I have already done so and their answer to my question is that Depression is “it” and that it can vary in intensity, duration and nature. We can all experience various aspect of the depression which is shaped by what is happening in our environment and inside our mind.

To conclude, I would say to Professor Parker that it is time to let this myth, that there are subtypes of depression, go away and do something else. This theory is no longer taken seriously by mental health professionals, from practicing psychologists, to psychiatrist to sufferers, it is not accepted as a plausible idea. To continue is to waste precious resources is simply silly.

And to the Australian Universities I can only say that if we don’t want to be left behind, it is time to change and integrate science with the art of what makes us human. Clearly we can understand that we are not robotic biological machines? There is much talk of biopsychosocial models of mental health but in the university that I have been studying for years, I have seen little or nothing of it. And many university students who suffer tell me the same that while there is much talk of biopsychosocial approaches to the problems, no one can see any concrete policy in place that can be called biopsychosocial.

The book is divided into two sections. In the first section I tell my story as I attempt to understand myself, to learn about my moods and to learn to live reasonably well with what is a lifelong disorder. In the second section I attempt to join a collection of relevant essays which I use to formulate a conclusion where I attempt to define and describe my bipolar II disorder. I also describe my longitudinal research on childhood trauma which I feel is the major source of mental illness in our world today http://www.cdc.gov/ace/findings.htm.

Disclosing my mental disorder to the world is not an easy thing to do. Stigma is still very prevalent and, while some people are sympathetic and see me for the creative and sensitive person that I am, many are still prejudiced. In order to avoid prejudice a sufferer like me must be willing to make sacrifices and to give up the people and the environment from which the prejudice emanates. Today I do just this. Whenever I perceive prejudice I avoid it completely. I try to choose the right people who can support me and environments that are suitable, environments of care and understanding.

The majority of my online friends, with whom I share many emails each day, are either knowledgeable sufferers who have deep understanding of their disorder and can control their moods and symptoms, or mental health professionals particularly university professors, psychologists and psychiatrists. Currently I am being guided by a few mental health professionals to complete two research papers. One on childhood trauma and the other on the efficacy of music therapy and educational computer games to help children who suffer with ADHD.

As I continue to discuss mental disorders online, with hundreds of individuals who suffer with disorders such as major depression, bipolar disorder, dysthymia, personality disorder and many other mental disorders, I am finding that I am able to make sense of my bipolar disorder and in this book I attempt to explain what “mental illness” is. It is certainly not an illness like any other and for me not an illness at all. It is a disorder that is extremely complex and that we still do not understand. I feel that at the end of the book I give a very good definition of mental illness from my perspective, the perspective of a sufferer who is in touch with many other sufferers from all over the world.

Seldom do mental health professionals listen to sufferers because, after all, it is those who suffer directly with a mental disorder that know what symptoms and moods are like and what works best . All that we need is support so that we can find our own way. Those who do find their way often make tremendous contributions to their society because there is a strong correlation, which is proven scientifically, between mental disorders and genius. You have to admit some can be novel thinkers, coming up with ideas no one has dreamed of. See for example http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2154393/There-IS-link-genius-madness-claim-scientists–dont-know-evolved-gift.html

Many people with mental disorders are extremely creative and if we look at our history we find that many of the inventors, scientists, artists and leaders showed symptoms that are consistent with mental disorders like depression and bipolar. I am certainly creative, multi talented to be precise, and my book is filled with pencil drawings that contribute to the story, poems and links to my music which can be downloads or listen to free of charge.

I feel that it is important for mental health professionals, and those who suffer with a mental disorder directly, to read this book especially the second part which is a collection of selected essay on mental disorders and my experiences in the attempt to help myself and help others as I communicate with people of many countries of the world. It is a constant search for answers and I am pleased to say that a clear pattern is emerging. There is no doubt that we are heading the wrong way when it comes to studying and understanding mental disorders and I will explain why in the book.

Knowledge is wisdom and essential for a person like me with a mental disorder. I must give credit to the University of Newcastle, Australia, for its support and understanding over the years. This is a wonderful university that has been a tremendous part of my life, on and off, over the past twenty years. This university is a university with a heart that can support people with mental disorders and with disabilities. I was able to gain an honours degree in social anthropology, complete two years in a Masters Degree and later complete some studies in a clinical psychology degree.

It has not been easy because some academics have had to accommodate my moods and symptoms, something that is not always easy. However, in our society we do need to support those who suffer like me. Having a mental disorder is a tremendous disability that needs social support. Many academics have been able to support me. There I have met some outstanding academics like Professor Trevor Waring, clinical psychologist Lachlan Tiffen, Dr Colin Wilks and Dr Chris Falzon, of the department of philosophy, Sociologists Dr Terry Leahy and Dr Ann Taylor and many others like Sally Purcell, Revered Roy Hazelwood, Catherine Stone, who is today Director of Student Experience Unit, Open University Australia.

These academics and staff were able to support me and showed me that they had absolutely no prejudice towards me. With these academics I have been able to thrive and study hard. I hope that their wisdom and talents are an inspiration to others and are used within the universities so that students like me can be better supported.

To help students who suffer like me we may need extra time, extra resources and effort but, as this book will show, it is all worth it because the studies have helped me to help others and this, both in social and monetary terms, is absolutely worth it. Governments that have had to pay for my studies, and for all of those who have offered their support and extra care to help me, I can say that it has been a good investment as this book will show.

Today I give back tenfold when I help sufferers online who cannot access services or mental health professionals for whatever reasons. Guided by counselling psychologist Bob Rich, who has recently written a wonderful novel Ascending Spiralshttp://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ascending-spiral-bob-rich/1114890553 ; clinical psychologist Paul Corcoran who guides me and helps me to help myself and others; psychiatrist Dr David Butler who has been a long time friend and a father figure at the same time; GP Dr Dean Cavanagh who is interested in mental health studies and who is a wonderful doctor; and a few of my expert friends who suffer directly, I am able to provide guidance and support even to those who contemplate suicide. I feel that over the years I have helped many people and at the same time helped myself.

One academic who has been enormously supportive, in my journey, is Professor Trevor Waring, a humble man who is the chair of the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC) and who was also the Chancellor of the University of Newcastle for two terms. Although I have known him for a very short time, his wisdom and support has been inspirational to say the least. One of the things that has most impressed me about Professor Waring is what he said in the Alumni magazine of the University of Newcastle (2012, p. 8):

“…While we have to run the University in a business like manner, we are not a business like any other business. I just felt that we as a governing body and as a university as a whole have what I would regard as a sacred trust – [that is] to have these lives in your hands and the lives of the people they will serve.”

I have also been fortunate to communicate with other humble professionals like professor Patrick McGorry of the University of Melbourne; anthropologist professor Geoffrey Samuel of Cardiff University in the UK; professor Elyn Saks who is not only a mental health advocate but a law professor at the University of Southern California and the author of the book The Centre Cannot Hold : My Journey Through Madness http://io9.com/5983970/im-elyn-saks-and-this-is-what-its-like-to-live-with-schizophrenia; Professor Gordon Parker of the University of New South Wales, Australia, who is an expert of Depression; Professor Brian Martin, of the University of Wollongong, who has always replied to my occasional emails. He is a terrific academic and has written a book which is not only free to read and download but also one of my favorite books http://www.bmartin.cc/pubs/11gt/index.html ; Dr Tony Kidman of the University of Technology in Sydney who is a very humble person and who really cares about people with mental disorders; Dr. Shelly Carson of Harvard University for her interesting writings on the link between creativity and mental disorders. Particularly interesting is her book ” Your Creative Brain” http://www.shelleycarson.com/ ; Chartered Psychologist Jerry Kennard who writes on Depression Connect of Health Central America; Barbara Hocking who has been the director of SANE Australia for a few years and who has recently retired for the position; professor Mick Cooper who wrote a timely book titled: Essential Research Findings in Counselling and Psychotherapy: the Facts are Friendly (2008). This book is must read for all of those interested in therapy; and many other important mental health professionals, too many to mention. The humbleness of these professors and mental health experts has touched me in a very profound way.

I would also like to thank mental health professional Lewis Weir who is a great source of inspiration and a good friend; my long time friends Judy from America who continues to inspire me with her wisdom; and Rose Martin from Ireland. I would also like to thank the many people who I have met while writing on Stephen’s Fry’s website, and on many other websites.

Amongst the important people that have helped me on my journey are: Pope John Paul II who suffered with depression and called it a “spiritual trial”; Sahara Vaughan, the famous jazz singer who pointed me to a new kind of music on which I am still working today; the late Amy Winehouse who was mostly a gifted jazz singer not just a pop star and with whom I have had many conversations about jazz; Mark Hunter, who was the lead singer of the band Dragon; and Paul Hester who was the drummer of the band Crowded House. I spend sometime with him, after he left Crowded House, while he was working as a sound engineer in Sydney before he went back to Melbourne. At that time he was the sound engineer for my jazz trio and I told him that he was one of the best sound technicians because he was able to mike up my grand piano in a way that no one has ever been able to do. He was truly gifted as a musician, comedian and a wonderful person who suffered with major depression.

These artists have helped me to understand that what we call a mental illness is also a gift not only a problem. Indeed many people would like to have the kind of creativity that inspire songs and works of art which are created by artists who suffer with a mental disorder. I hope that this book will make an interesting contribution to the study of mental disorders, pointing to the road less traveled but nevertheless important. For me bipolar II disorder is a constant source of creativity and, just like Pope John Paul once said about his depression, a spiritual trial which leads me closer to the Light.

One last word is to Australian Politicians. I am asking them to reconsider their intention to cut founds to tertiary institutions in Australia. It is hoped that governments focuses on how the studies have helped me to help Australian society and also to help many people with mental disorders from all over the world, as a volunteer. Just by listening to people’s problems and concerns, with the support of psychologists and mental health professionals, I work as a volunteer helper (which is not much different than what a therapist does) to help many people with mental disorders. This help I offer can also be translate into money because better mental health means reduced social costs.

Tertiary studies are always valuable, particularly for sufferers like me, and I hope that the Politicians reconsider their intention to cut founds to university because we do need universities, they are our real future and what generates jobs for a country. Universities are not just places that prepare people for work but also places that prepare people for life and empower them to help others.

Over the years I feel that I have saved quite a few lives in Australia because of my voluntary work. But none of this would have been possible without my tertiary education. My voluntary work translate into real money if we think of the impact of suicide on family members and friends of the victims. When someone commits suicide their relatives, parents and friends can suffer terrible and even become depressed, sometimes for years.

Finally, I see little use in completing primary and secondary studies if less advantaged people have limited access to tertiary education. More importantly, sufferers like me may need to study for many years to be able to conquer their mental disorders. Many can get better with proper support and I would like to see more people with mental disorders in universities, and even create special courses for people with mental disorders, for knowledge is the most important thing that helps a sufferer like me. Knowledge is essential and perhaps more so than medication and therapy. Knowledge is life. But this knowledge must not be based largely on science but both an equal and balanced amounts of science and art. Humanitarian and scientific studies go well together if science is applied appropriately. At present this balance is missing in Australian universities and cutting founds to the tune of 2.3 or 2,8 billion dollars is going to make the situation much worse.